Royal Park school building: Campaigners celebrate council decision

* Council agrees to let residents' group take control of abandoned Leeds school - but tells them they must secure funding within nine months
* Local organisation to take control of Woodhouse Community Centre

Community campaigners today moved a step closer to taking control of the Royal Park Primary School building in Hyde Park. Photograph: John Baron/guardian.co.uk

Royal Park school building: Campaigners celebrate council decision

* Council agrees to let residents' group take control of abandoned Leeds school - but tells them they must secure funding within nine months
* Local organisation to take control of Woodhouse Community Centre

Wednesday 5 January 2011 12.24 EST
First published on Wednesday 5 January 2011 12.24 EST

Community campaigners who aim to transform an abandoned Leeds school into a community hub are celebrating after senior councillors agreed they could take control of the building.

Members of the Royal Park Community Consortium (RPCC) have fought for six years to take control of the former Royal Park Primary School in Hyde Park - and senior councillors this afternoon agreed to support the bid to place the semi-derelict building into community ownership.

However, they placed a condition that RPCC must raise the £750,000 capital funding needed to take control the building before the keys to the former school are handed over.

Executive board members considered three bids from potential developers to take over the building - one developer wanted to turn it into student flats and another proposed a variety of community and leisure uses - before deciding on the RPCC bid wghich would see the building

Leeds council leader Keith Wakefield

To cheers from a number of Hyde Park residents at the executive board meeting in Leeds Civic Hall, council leader Keith Wakefield said:

"Members are unanimous in their decision - they want to see the RPCC bid succeed and the building to be run and owned by the community. RPCC still faces a number of hurdles to secure funding, but they have our support.

"I cannot congratulate the people involved in this campaign enough - there is a lot of enthusiasm and ability behind this venture and we wish you well. We have given you time now to try and get the funding in place."

Executive board member Richard Lewis added:

"We are well aware that the potential big funders for this scheme will make their decisions by July, so this decision hopefully gives enough time for RPCC members to get the funding in place."

Conservative leader councillor Andrew Carter said the campaigners had come 'light years' since first submitting their bid last year and praised the progress RPCC had made.

Liberal Democrat leader Stewart Golton said Hyde Park was a 'community under pressure' and said that there was a 'wonderful opportunity to create community capacity' in the area.

Campaigners 'delighted'

After the meeting, RPCC member Jake England-Johns said he was delighted at the decision and was optimistic that the consortium would be able to secure money from funders to finally take control of the building. He said it moved RPCC a step closer to securing control of the building and added:

"It is great that we have got this result. It's a testament to the determination of the people of Hyde Park. Time is tight for us to get the funding in place, but we are delighted by the decision today."

RPCC recently submitted a Communitybuilders application and will know by early February if it will receive a first large-scale stage of funding from them.

"This is fantastic news for the community and I'd like to congratulate the people involved. I'm looking forward to moving ahead with them on this project and help them to secure the funding for the building. That building's got a great future ahead of it."

Executive board refuses to waive eviction costs

In November 2009 community activists illegally occupied the building for three weeks, clearing debris and repairing parts of the deteriorating building.

Royal Park Primary School building in Hyde Park, which resdents want to use as a community resource Photograph: John Baron/guardian.co.uk

Leeds council took court action to have the occupiers evicted and costs of £2,948 were awarded against some of the squatters.

The council's Inner North West Area Committee had asked that the costs be waived but executive board members today refused.

Council leader Keith Wakefield said that waiving the costs would set a precedent. He added that paying the money in installments was the right way forward for the activists.

He added that it was appropriate for the area committee councillors to pay the costs from their budget if they felt it necessary.

Woodhouse Community Centre takeover

Executive board members also agreed to a request by local organisation Oblong to take over the council-run Woodhouse Community Centre in Woodhouse Street on a 50-year lease.

The community hub proposal, which is also dependent on Communitybuilders funding for refurbishment, would include adding a mezzanine floor above the main hall to increase floor space, interior improvements to link different areas together, access improvements and a reception.

A post on Oblong's website this afternon welcomed the council's decision and said:

"Our next step is to get funding for refurbishment from the Community Builders fund. We should hear about this early February and we expect to have the contract for the building shortly afterward. If everything goes according to plan, building work will begin in March."